The Complete Celebrated Crimes by Alexander Dumas, Pere

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return than at my departure, I will, as carefully as possible, paintfor you my physical and moral state, and I pray God to supplement mywords by His strength, so that my letter may contain an equivalent ofwhat yours brought to me, and may help you to reach that state ofcalm and serenity to which I have myself attained.

"Hardened, by having gained power over myself, against the good andill of this earth, you knew already that of late years I have livedonly for moral joys, and I must say that, touched by my efforts,doubtless, the Lord, who is the sacred fount of all that is good, hasrendered me apt in seeking them and in tasting them to the full. Godis ever near me, as formerly, and I find in Him the sovereignprinciple of the creation of all things; in Him, our holy Father, notonly consolation and strength, but an unalterable Friend, full of theholiest love, who will accompany me in all places where I may needHis consolations. Assuredly, if He had turned from me, or if I hadturned away my eyes from Him, I should now find myself veryunfortunate and wretched; but by His grace, on the contrary, lowlyand weak creature as I am, He makes me strong and powerful againstwhatever can befall me.

"What I have hitherto revered as sacred, what I have desired as goodwhat I have aspired to as heavenly, has in no respect changed now.And I thank God for it, for I should now be in great despair if Iwere compelled to recognise that my heart had adored deceptive imagesand enwrapped itself in fugitive chimeras. Thus my faith in theseideas and my pure love far them, guardian angels of my spirit as theyare, increase moment by moment, and will go on increasing to my end,and I hope that I may pass all the more easily from this world intoeternity. I pass my silent life in Christian exaltation andhumility, and I sometimes have those visions from above through whichI have, from my birth, adored heaven upon earth, and which give mepower to raise myself to the Lord upon the eager wings of my prayers.My illness, though long, painful, and cruel, has always beensufficiently mastered by my will to let me busy myself to some resultwith history, positive sciences, and the finer parts of religiouseducation, and when my suffering became more violent and for a timeinterrupted these occupations, I struggled successfully,nevertheless, against ennui; for the memories of the past, myresignation to the present, and my faith in the future were richenough and strong enough in me and round me to prevent my fallingfrom my terrestrial paradise. According to my principles, I wouldnever, in the position in which I am and in which I have placedmyself, have been willing to ask anything for my own comfort; but somuch kindness and care have been lavished upon me, with so muchdelicacy and humanity,--which alas! I am unable to return--by everyperson with whom I have been brought into contact, that wishes whichI should not have dared to frame in the mast private recesses of myheart have been more than exceeded. I have never been so muchovercome by bodily pains that I could not say within myself, while Ilifted my thoughts to heaven, 'Come what may of this ray.' And greatas these gains have been, I could not dream of comparing them withthose sufferings of the soul that we feel so profoundly andpoignantly in the recognition of our weaknesses and faults.

"Moreover, these pains seldom now cause me to lose consciousness; theswelling and inflammation never made great headway, and the fever hasalways been moderate, though for nearly ten months I have been forcedto remain lying on my back, unable to raise myself, and although morethan forty pints of matter have come from my chest at the place wherethe heart is. No, an the contrary, the wound, though still open, isin a good state; and I owe that not only to the excellent nursingaround me, but also to the pure blood that I received from you, mymother. Thus I have lacked neither earthly assistance nor heavenlyencouragement. Thus, on the anniversary of my birth, I had everyreason--oh, not to curse the hour in which I was born, but, on thecontrary, after serious contemplation of the world, to thank God andyou, my dear parents, for the life that you have given me! Icelebrated it, on the 18th of October, by a peaceful and ardentsubmission to the holy will of God. On Christmas Day I tried to putmyself into the temper of children who are devoted to the Lord; andwith God's help the new year will pass like its predecessor, inbodily pain, perhaps, but certainly in spiritual joy. And with thiswish, the only one that I form, I address myself to you, my dearparents, and to you and yours, my dear brothers and sisters.

"I cannot hope to see a twenty-fifth new year; so may the prayer thatI have just made be granted! May this picture of my present stateafford you some tranquillity, and may this letter that I write to youfrom the depths of my heart not only prove to you that I am notunworthy of the inexpressible love that you all display, but, on thecontrary, ensure this love to me for eternity.

"Within the last few days I have also received your dear letter ofthe 2nd of December, my kind mother, and the grind-duke's commissionhas deigned to let me also read my kind brother's letter whichaccompanied yours. You give me the best of news in regard to thehealth of all of you, and send me preserved fruits from our dearhome. I thank you for them from the bottom of my heart. What causesme most joy in the matter is that you have been solicitously busyabout me in summer as in winter, and that you and my dear Juliagathered them and prepared them for me at home, and I abandon mywhole soul to that sweet enjoyment.

"I rejoice sincerely at my little cousin's coming into the world; Ijoyfully congratulate the good parents and the grandparents; Itransport myself, for his baptism, into that beloved parish, where Ioffer him my affection as his Christian brother, and call down on himall the blessings of heaven.

"We shall be obliged, I think, to give up this correspondence, so asnot to inconvenience the grand-duke's commission. I finish,therefore, by assuring you, once more, but for the last time,perhaps, of my profound filial submission and of my fraternalaffection.--Your most tenderly attached

"KARL-LUDWIG SAND."

Indeed, from that moment all correspondence between Karl and hisfamily ceased, and he only wrote to them, when he knew his fate, onemore letter, which we shall see later on.

We have seen by what attentions Sand was surrounded; their humanitynever flagged for an instant. It is the truth, too, that no one sawin him an ordinary murderer, that many pitied him under their breath,and that some excused him aloud. The very commission appointed bythe grand-duke prolonged the affair as much as possible; for theseverity of Sand's wounds had at first given rise to the belief thatthere would be no need of calling in the executioner, and thecommission was well pleased that God should have undertaken theexecution of the judgment. But these expectations were deceived: theskill of the doctor defeated, not indeed the wound, but death: Sanddid not recover, but he remained alive; and it began to be evidentthat it would be needful to kill him.

Indeed, the Emperor Alexander, who had appointed Kotzebue hiscouncillor, and who was under no misapprehension as to the cause ofthe murder, urgently demanded that justice should take its course.The commission of inquiry was therefore obliged to set to work; butas its members were sincerely desirous of having some pretext todelay their proceedings, they ordered that a physician fromHeidelberg should visit Sand and make an exact report upon his case;as Sand was kept lying down and as he could not be executed in hisbed, they hoped that the physician's report, by declaring itimpossible for the prisoner to rise, would come to their assistanceand necessitate a further respite.

The chosen doctor came accordingly to Mannheim, and introducinghimself to Sand as though attracted by the interest that he inspired,asked him whether he did not feel somewhat better, and whether itwould be impossible to rise. Sand looked at him for an instant, andthen said, with a smile--

"I understand, sir; they wish to know whether I am strong enough tomount a scaffold: I know nothing about it myself, but we will makethe experiment together."

With these words he rose, and accomplishing, with superhuman courage,what he had not attempted for fourteen months, walked twice round theroom, came back to his bed, upon which he seated himself, and said

"You see, sir, I am strong enough; it would therefore be wastingprecious time to keep my judges longer about my affair; so let themdeliver their judgment, for nothing now prevents its execution."

The doctor made his report; there was no way of retreat; Russia wasbecoming more and more pressing, and an the 5th of May 1820 the highcourt of justice delivered the following judgment, which wasconfirmed on the 12th by His Royal Highness the Grand-Duke of Baden:

"In the matters under investigation and after administration of theinterrogatory and hearing the defences, and considering the unitedopinions of the court of justice at Mannheim and the furtherconsultations of the court of justice which declare the accused, KarlSand of Wonsiedel, guilty of murder, even on his own confession, uponthe person of the Russian imperial Councillor of State, Kotzebue; itis ordered accordingly, for his just punishment and for an examplethat may deter other people, that he is to be put from life to deathby the sword.

"All the costs of these investigations, including these occasioned byhis public execution, will be defrayed from the funds of the lawdepartment, on account of his want of means."

We see that, though it condemned the accused to death, which indeedcould hardly be avoided, the sentence was both in form and substanceas mild as possible, since, though Sand was convicted, his poorfamily was not reduced by the expenses of a long and costly trial tocomplete ruin.

Five days were still allowed to elapse, and the verdict was notannounced until the 17th. When Sand was informed that twocouncillors of justice were at the door, he guessed that they werecoming to read his sentence to him; he asked a moment to rise, whichhe had done but once before, in the instance already narrated, duringfourteen months. And indeed he was so weak that he could not standto hear the sentence, and after having greeted the deputation thatdeath sent to him, he asked to sit down, saying that he did so notfrom cowardice of soul but from weakness of body; then he added, "Youare welcome, gentlemen; far I have suffered so much for fourteenmonths past that you come to me as angels of deliverance."

He heard the sentence quite unaffectedly and with a gentle smile uponhis lips; then, when the reading was finished, he said--

"I look for no better fate, gentlemen, and when, more than a yearago, I paused on the little hill that overlooks the town, I sawbeforehand the place where my grave would be; and so I ought to thankGod and man far having prolonged my existence up to to-day."

The councillors withdrew; Sand stood up a second time to greet themon their departure, as he had done on their entrance; then he satdown again pensively in his chair, by which Mr. G, the governor ofthe prison, was standing. After a moment of silence, a tear appearedat each of the condemned man's eyelids, and ran down his cheeks;then, turning suddenly to Mr. G----, whom he liked very much, hesaid, "I hope that my parents would rather see me die by this violentdeath than of some slow and shameful disease. As for me, I am gladthat I shall soon hear the hour strike in which my death will satisfythose who hate me, and those wham, according to my principles, Iought to hate."

Then he wrote to his family.

"MANNHEIM

"17th of the month of spring, 1820

"DEAR PARENTS, BROTHERS, AND SISTERS,--You should have received mylast letters through the grand-duke's commission; in them I answeredyours, and tried to console you for my position by describing thestate of my soul as it is, the contempt to which I have attained foreverything fragile and earthly, and by which one must necessarily beovercome when such matters are weighed against the fulfilment of anidea, or that intellectual liberty which alone can nourish the soul;in a word, I tried to console you by the assurance that the feelings,principles, and convictions of which I formerly spoke are faithfullypreserved in me and have remained exactly the same; but I am sure allthis was an unnecessary precaution on my part, for there was never atime when you asked anything else of me than to have God before myeyes and in my heart; and you have seen how, under your guidance,this precept so passed into my soul that it became my sole object ofhappiness for this world and the next; no doubt, as He was in andnear me, God will be in and near you at the moment when this letterbrings you the news of my sentence. I die willingly, and the Lordwill give me strength to die as one ought to die.

"I write to you perfectly quiet and calm about all things, and I hopethat your lives too will pass calmly and tranquilly until the momentwhen our souls meet again full of fresh force to love one another andto share eternal happiness together.

"As for me, such as I have lived as long as I have known myself--thatis to say, in a serenity full of celestial desires and a courageousand indefatigable love of liberty, such I am about to die.

"May God be with you and with me!--Your son, brother, and friend,

"KARL-LUDWIG SAND."

From that moment his serenity remained un troubled; during the wholeday he talked more gaily than usual, slept well, did not awake untilhalf-past seven, said that he felt stronger, and thanked God forvisiting him thus.

The nature of the verdict had been known since the day before, and ithad been learned that the execution was fixed for the 20th of May--that is to say, three full days after the sentence had been read tothe accused.

Henceforward, with Sand's permission, persons who wished to speak tohim and whom he was not reluctant to see, were admitted: three amongthese paid him long and noteworthy visits.

One was Major Holzungen, of the Baden army, who was in command of thepatrol that had arrested him, or rather picked him up, dying, andcarried him to the hospital. He asked him whether he recognised him,and Sand's head was so clear when he stabbed himself, that althoughhe saw the major only for a moment and had never seen him againsince, he remembered the minutest details of the costume which he hadbeen wearing fourteen months previously, and which was the full-dressuniform. When the talk fell upon the death to which Sand was tosubmit at so early an age, the major pitied him; but Sand answered,with a smile, "There is only one difference between you and me,major; it is that I shall die far my convictions, and you will diefor someone else's convictions."

After the major came a young student from Jena whom Sand had known atthe university. He happened to be in the duchy of Baden and wishedto visit him. Their recognition was touching, and the student weptmuch; but Sand consoled him with his usual calmness and serenity.

Then a workman asked to be admitted to see Sand, on the plea that hehad been his schoolfellow at Wonsiedel, and although he did notremember his name, he ordered him to be let in: the workman remindedhim that he had been one of the little army that Sand had commandedon the day of the assault of St. Catherine's tower. This indicationguided Sand, who recognised him perfectly, and then spoke with tenderaffection of his native place and his dear mountains. He furthercharged him to greet his family, and to beg his mother, father,brothers, and sisters once more not to be grieved on his account,since the messenger who undertook to deliver his last wards couldtestify in how calm and joyful a temper he was awaiting death.

To this workman succeeded one of the guests whom Sand had met on thestaircase directly after Kotzebue's death. He asked him whether heacknowledged his crime and whether he felt any repentance. Sandreplied, "I had thought about it during a whole year. I have beenthinking of it for fourteen months, and my opinion has never variedin any respect: I did what I should have done."

After the departure of this last visitor, Sand sent for Mr. G----,the governor of the prison, and told him that he should like to talkto the executioner before the execution, since he wished to ask forinstructions as to how he should hold himself so as to render theoperation most certain and easy. Mr. G---- made some objections, butSand insisted with his usual gentleness, and Mr. G---- at lastpromised that the man in question should be asked to call at theprison as soon as he arrived from Heidelberg, where he lived.

The rest of the day was spent in seeing more visitors and inphilosophical and moral talks, in which Sand developed his social andreligious theories with a lucidity of expression and an elevation ofthought such as he had, perhaps, never before shown. The governor ofthe prison from whom I heard these details, told me that he shouldall his life regret that he did not know shorthand, so that he mighthave noted all these thoughts, which would have formed a pendant tothe Phaedo.

Night came. Sand spent part of the evening writing; it is thoughtthat he was composing a poem; but no doubt he burned it, for no traceof it was found. At eleven he went to bed, and slept until six inthe morning. Next day he bore the dressing of his wound, which wasalways very painful, with extraordinary courage, without fainting, ashe sometimes did, and without suffering a single complaint to escapehim: he had spoken the truth; in the presence of death God gave himthe grace of allowing his strength to return. The operation wasover; Sand was lying down as usual, and Mr. G---- was sitting on thefoot of his bed, when the door opened and a man came in and bowed toSand and to Mr. G----. The governor of the prison immediately stoodup, and said to Sand in a voice the emotion of which he could notconceal, "The person who is bowing to you is Mr. Widemann ofHeidelberg, to whom you wished to speak."

Then Sand's face was lighted up by a strange joy; he sat up and said,"Sir, you are welcome." Then, making his visitor sit down by hisbed, and taking his hand, he began to thank him for being soobliging, and spoke in so intense a tone and so gentle a voice, thatMr. Widemann, deeply moved, could not answer. Sand encouraged him tospeak and to give him the details for which he wished, and in orderto reassure him, said, "Be firm, sir; for I, on my part, will notfail you: I will not move; and even if you should need two or threestrokes to separate my head from my body, as I am told is sometimesthe case, do not be troubled on that account."

Then Sand rose, leaning on Mr. G----, to go through with theexecutioner the strange and terrible rehearsal of the drama in whichhe was to play the leading part on the morrow. Mr. Widemann made himsit in a chair and take the required position, and went into all thedetails of the execution with him. Then Sand, perfectly instructed,begged him not to hurry and to take his time. Then he thanked himbeforehand; "for," added he, "afterwards I shall not be able." ThenSand returned to his bed, leaving the executioner paler and moretrembling than himself. All these details have been preserved by Mr.G----; for as to the executioner, his emotion was so great that hecould remember nothing.

After Mr. Widemann, three clergymen were introduced, with whom Sandconversed upon religious matters: one of them stayed six hours withhim, and on leaving him told him that he was commissioned to obtainfrom him a promise of not speaking to the people at the place ofexecution. Sand gave the promise, and added, "Even if I desired todo so, my voice has become so weak that people could not hear it."

Meanwhile the scaffold was being erected in the meadow that extendson the left of the road to Heidelberg. It was a platform five to sixfeet high and ten feet wide each way. As it was expected that,thanks to the interest inspired by the prisoner and to the nearnessto Whitsuntide, the crowd would be immense, and as some movement fromthe universities was apprehended, the prison guards had been trebled,and General Neustein had been ordered to Mannheim from Carlsruhe,with twelve hundred infantry, three hundred and fifty cavalry, and acompany of artillery with guns.

On, the afternoon of the 19th there arrived, as had been foreseen, somany students, who took up their abode in the neighbouring villages,that it was decided to put forward the hour of the execution, and tolet it take place at five in the morning instead of at eleven, as hadbeen arranged. But Sand's consent was necessary for this; for hecould not be executed until three full days after the reading of hissentence, and as the sentence had not been read to him till half-pastten Sand had a right to live till eleven o'clock.

Before four in the morning the officials went into the condemnedman's room; he was sleeping so soundly that they were obliged toawaken him. He opened his eyes with a smile, as was his custom, andguessing why they came, asked, "Can I have slept so well that it isalready eleven in the morning?" They told him that it was not, butthat they had come to ask his permission to put forward the time;for, they told him, same collision between the students and thesoldiers was feared, and as the military preparations were verythorough, such a collision could not be otherwise than fatal to hisfriends. Sand answered that he was ready that very moment, and onlyasked time enough to take a bath, as the ancients were accustomed todo before going into battle. But as the verbal authorisation whichhe had given was not sufficient, a pen and paper were given to Sand,and he wrote, with a steady hand and in his usual writing:

"I thank the authorities of Mannheim for anticipating my most eagerwishes by making my execution six hours earlier.

"Sit nomen Domini benedictum.

"From the prison room, May 20th, day of my deliverance.

"KARL-LUDWIG SAND."

When Sand had given these two lines to the recorder, the physiciancame to him to dress his wound, as usual. Sand looked at him with asmile, and then asked, "Is it really worth the trouble?"

"You will be stronger for it," answered the physician.

"Then do it," said Sand.

A bath was brought. Sand lay down in it, and had his long andbeautiful hair arranged with the greatest care; then his toilet beingcompleted, he put on a frock-coat of the German shape--that is tosay, short and with the shirt collar turned back aver the shoulders,close white trousers, and high boots. Then Sand seated himself onhis bed and prayed some time in a low voice with the clergy; then,when he had finished, he said these two lines of Korner's:

"All that is earthly is ended, And the life of heaven begins."

He next took leave of the physician and the priests, saying to them,"Do not attribute the emotion of my voice to weakness but togratitude." Then, upon these gentlemen offering to accompany him tothe scaffold, he said, "There is no need; I am perfectly prepared, atpeace with God and with my conscience. Besides, am I not almost aChurchman myself?" And when one of them asked whether he was notgoing out of life in a spirit of hatred, he returned, "Why, goodheavens! have I ever felt any?"

An increasing noise was audible from the street, and Sand said againthat he was at their disposal and that he was ready. At this momentthe executioner came in with his two assistants; he was dressed in along wadded black coat, beneath which he hid his sword. Sand offeredhim his hand affectionately; and as Mr. Widemann, embarrassed by thesword which he wished to keep Sand from seeing, did not venture tocome forward, Sand said to him, "Come along and show me your sword; Ihave never seen one of the kind, and am curious to know what it islike."

Mr. Widemann, pale and trembling, presented the weapon to him; Sandexamined it attentively, and tried the edge with his finger.

"Come," said he, "the blade is good; do not tremble, and all will gowell." Then, turning to Mr. G----, who was weeping, he said to him,"You will be good enough, will you not, to do me the service ofleading me to the scaffold?"

Mr. G---- made a sign of assent with his head, for he could notanswer. Sand took his arm, and spoke for the third time, saying oncemore, "Well, what are you waiting for, gentlemen? I am ready."

When they reached the courtyard, Sand saw all the prisoners weepingat their windows. Although he had never seen them, they were oldfriends of his; for every time they passed his door, knowing that thestudent who had killed Kotzebue lay within, they used to lift theirchain, that he might not be disturbed by the noise.

All Mannheim was in the streets that led to the place of execution,and many patrols were passing up and down. On the day when thesentence was announced the whole town had been sought through for achaise in which to convey Sand to the scaffold, but no one, not eventhe coach-builders, would either let one out or sell one; and it hadbeen necessary, therefore, to buy one at Heidelberg without sayingfor what purpose.

Sand found this chaise in the courtyard, and got into it with Mr.G----. Turning to him, he whispered in his ear, "Sir, if you see meturn pale, speak my name to me, my name only, do you hear? That willbe enough."

The prison gate was opened, and Sand was seen; then every voice criedwith one impulse, "Farewell, Sand, farewell!"

And at the same time flowers, some of which fell into the carriage,were thrown by the crowd that thronged the street, and from thewindows. At these friendly cries and at this spectacle, Sand, whountil then had shown no moment of weakness, felt tears rising inspite of himself, and while he returned the greetings made to him onall sides, he murmured in a low voice, "O my God, give me courage!"

This first outburst over, the procession set out amid deep silence;only now and again same single voice would call out, "Farewell,Sand!" and a handkerchief waved by some hand that rose out of thecrowd would show from what paint the last call came. On each side ofthe chaise walked two of the prison officials, and behind the chaisecame a second conveyance with the municipal authorities.

The air was very cold: it had rained all night, and the dark andcloudy sky seemed to share in the general sadness. Sand, too weak toremain sitting up, was half lying upon the shoulder of Mr. G-----,his companion; his face was gentle, calm and full of pain; his browfree and open, his features, interesting though without regularbeauty, seemed to have aged by several years during the fourteenmonths of suffering that had just elapsed. The chaise at lastreached the place of execution, which was surrounded by a battalionof infantry; Sand lowered his eyes from heaven to earth and saw thescaffold. At this sight he smiled gently, and as he left thecarriage he said, "Well, God has given me strength so far."

The governor of the prison and the chief officials lifted him that hemight go up the steps. During that short ascent pain kept him bowed,but when he had reached the top he stood erect again, saying, "Herethen is the place where I am to die!"

Then before he came to the chair on which he was to be seated for theexecution, he turned his eyes towards Mannheim, and his gazetravelled over all the throng that surrounded him; at that moment aray of sunshine broke through the clouds. Sand greeted it with asmile and sat down.

Then, as, according to the orders given, his sentence was to be readto him a second time, he was asked whether he felt strong enough tohear it standing. Sand answered that he would try, and that if hisphysical strength failed him, his moral strength would uphold him.He rose immediately from the fatal chair, begging Mr. G----to standnear enough to support him if he should chance to stagger. Theprecaution was unnecessary, Sand did not stagger.

After the judgment had been read, he sat down again and said in alaud voice, "I die trusting in God."

But at these words Mr. G------ interrupted him.

"Sand," said he, "what did you promise?"

"True," he answered; "I had forgotten." He was silent, therefore, tothe crowd; but, raising his right hand and extending it solemnly inthe air, he said in a low voice, so that he might be heard only bythose who were around him, "I take God to witness that I die for thefreedom of Germany."

Then, with these words, he did as Conradin did with his glove; hethrew his rolled-up handkerchief over the line of soldiers aroundhim, into the midst of the people.

Then the executioner came to cut off his hair; but Sand at firstobjected.

"It is for your mother," said Mr. Widemann.

"On your honour, sir?" asked Sand.

"On my honour."

"Then do it," said Sand, offering his hair to the executioner.

Only a few curls were cut off, those only which fell at the back, theothers were tied with a ribbon on the top of the head. Theexecutioner then tied his hands on his breast, but as that positionwas oppressive to him and compelled him an account of his wound tobend his head, his hands were laid flat on his thighs and fixed inthat position with ropes. Then, when his eyes were about to bebound, he begged Mr. Widemann to place the bandage in such a mannerthat he could see the light to his last moment. His wish wasfulfilled.

Then a profound and mortal stillness hovered over the whole crowd andsurrounded the scaffold. The executioner drew his sword, whichflashed like lightning and fell. Instantly a terrible cry rose atonce from twenty thousand bosoms; the head had not fallen, and thoughit had sunk towards the breast still held to the neck. Theexecutioner struck a second time, and struck off at the same blow thehead and a part of the hand.

In the same moment, notwithstanding the efforts of the soldiers,their line was broken through; men and women rushed upon thescaffold, the blood was wiped up to the last drop with handkerchiefs;the chair upon which Sand had sat was broken and divided into pieces,and those who could not obtain one, cut fragments of bloodstainedwood from the scaffold itself.

The head and body were placed in a coffin draped with black, andcarried back, with a large military escort, to the prison. Atmidnight the body was borne silently, without torches or lights, tothe Protestant cemetery, in which Kotzebue had been buried fourteenmonths previously. A grave had been mysteriously dug; the coffin waslowered into it, and those who were present at the burial were swornupon the New Testament not to reveal the spot where Sand was burieduntil such time as they were freed from their oath. Then the gravewas covered again with the turf, that had been skilfully taken off,and that was relaid on the same spat, so that no new grave could beperceived; then the nocturnal gravediggers departed, leaving guardsat the entrance.

There, twenty paces apart, Sand and Kotzebue rest: Kotzebue oppositethe gate in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, and beneath atomb upon which is engraved this inscription:

"The world persecuted him without pity,Calumny was his sad portion,He found no happiness save in the arms of his wife,And no repose save in the bosom of death.Envy dogged him to cover his path with thorns,Love bade his roses blossom;May Heaven pardon himAs he pardons earth!"

In contrast with this tall and showy monument, standing, as we havesaid, in the most conspicuous spot of the cemetery, Sand's grave mustbe looked far in the corner to the extreme left of the entrance gate;and a wild plum tree, some leaves of which every passing travellercarries away, rises alone upon the grave, which is devoid of anyinscription.

As far the meadow in which Sand was executed, it is still called bythe people "Sand's Himmelsfartsweise," which signifies "The manner ofSand's ascension."

Toward the end of September, 1838, we were at Mannheim, where I hadstayed three days in order to collect all the details I could findabout the life and death of Karl-Ludwig Sand. But at the end ofthese three days, in spite of my active investigations, these detailsstill remained extremely incomplete, either because I applied in thewrong quarters, or because, being a foreigner, I inspired samedistrust in those to whom I applied. I was leaving Mannheim,therefore, somewhat disappointed, and after having visited the littleProtestant cemetery where Sand and Kotzebue are buried at twentypaces from each other, I had ordered my driver to take the road toHeidelberg, when, after going a few yards, he, who knew the object ofmy inquiries, stopped of himself and asked me whether I should notlike to see the place where Sand was executed. At the same time hepointed to a little mound situated in the middle of a meadow and afew steps from a brook. I assented eagerly, and although the driverremained on the highroad with my travelling companions, I soonrecognised the spot indicated, by means of some relics of cypressbranches, immortelles, and forget-me-nots scattered upon the earth.It will readily be understood that this sight, instead of diminishingmy desire for information, increased it. I was feeling, then, morethan ever dissatisfied at going away, knowing so little, when I saw aman of some five-and-forty to fifty years old, who was walking alittle distance from the place where I myself was, and who, guessingthe cause that drew me thither, was looking at me with curiosity.I determined to make a last effort, and going up to him, I said, "Oh,sir, I am a stranger; I am travelling to collect all the rich andpoetic traditions of your Germany. By the way in which you look atme, I guess that you know which of them attracts me to this meadow.Could you give me any information about the life and death of Sand?"

"With a very German object, be assured, sir," I replied. "From thelittle I have learned, Sand seems to me to be one of those ghoststhat appear only the greater and the more poetic for being wrapped ina shroud stained with blood. But he is not known in France; he mightbe put on the same level there with a Fieschi or a Meunier, and Iwish, to the best of my ability, to enlighten the minds of mycountrymen about him."

"It would be a great pleasure to me, sir, to assist in such anundertaking; but you see that I can scarcely speak French; you do notspeak German at all; so that we shall find it difficult to understandeach other."

"If that is all," I returned, "I have in my carriage yonder aninterpreter, or rather an interpretress, with whom you will, I hope,be quite satisfied, who speaks German like Goethe, and to whom, whenyou have once begun to speak to her, I defy you not to telleverything."

"Let us go, then, sir," answered the pedestrian. "I ask no betterthan to be agreeable to you."

We walked toward the carriage, which was still waiting on thehighroad, and I presented to my travelling companion the new recruitwhom I had just gained. The usual greetings were exchanged, and thedialogue began in the purest Saxon. Though I did not understand aword that was said, it was easy for me to see, by the rapidity of thequestions and the length of the answers, that the conversation wasmost interesting. At last, at the end of half an hours growingdesirous of knowing to what point they had come, I said, "Well?"

"Well," answered my interpreter, "you are in luck's way, and youcould not have asked a better person."

"The gentleman knew Sand, then?"

"The gentleman is the governor of the prison in which Sand wasconfined."

"Indeed?"

"For nine months--that is to say, from the day he left the hospital--this gentleman saw him every day."

"Excellent!"

"But that is not all: this gentleman was with him in the carriagethat took him to execution; this gentleman was with him on thescaffold; there's only one portrait of Sand in all Mannheim, and thisgentleman has it."

I was devouring every word; a mental alchemist, I was opening mycrucible and finding gold in it.

"Just ask," I resumed eagerly, "whether the gentleman will allow usto take down in writing the particulars that he can give me."

Mr. G---- got into the carriage with us, and instead of going on toHeidelberg, we returned to Mannheim, and alighted at the prison.

Mr. G--- did not once depart from the ready kindness that he hadshown. In the most obliging manner, patient over the minutesttrifles, and remembering most happily, he went over everycircumstance, putting himself at my disposal like a professionalguide. At last, when every particular about Sand had been suckeddry, I began to ask him about the manner in which executions wereperformed. "As to that," said he, "I can offer you an introductionto someone at Heidelberg who can give you all the information you canwish for upon the subject."

I accepted gratefully, and as I was taking leave of Mr. G----, afterthanking him a thousand times, he handed me the offered letter. Itbore this superscription: "To Herr-doctor Widemann, No. III HighStreet, Heidelberg."

I turned to Mr. G---- once more.

"Is he, by chance, a relation of the man who executed Sand? "I asked.

"He is his son, and was standing by when the head fell.".

"What is his calling, then?"

"The same as that of his father, whom he succeeded."

"But you call him 'doctor'?"

"Certainly; with us, executioners have that title."

"But, then, doctors of what?"

"Of surgery."

"Really?" said I. "With us it is just the contrary; surgeons arecalled executioners."

"You will find him, moreover," added Mr. G----, "a verydistinguished young man, who, although he was very young at thattime, has retained a vivid recollection of that event. As for hispoor father, I think he would as willingly have cut off his own righthand as have executed Sand; but if he had refused, someone else wouldhave been found. So he had to do what he was ordered to do, and hedid his best."

I thanked Mr. G----, fully resolving to make use of his letter, andwe left for Heidelberg, where we arrived at eleven in the evening.

My first visit next day was to Dr. Widernann. It was not withoutsome emotion, which, moreover, I saw reflected upon, the faces of mytravelling companions, that I rang at the door of the last judge, asthe Germans call him. An old woman opened the door to us, andushered us into a pretty little study, on the left of a passage andat the foot of a staircase, where we waited while Mr. Widemannfinished dressing. This little room was full of curiosities,madrepores, shells, stuffed birds, and dried plants; a double-barrelled gun, a powder-flask, and a game-bag showed that Mr.Widemann was a hunter.

After a moment we heard his footstep, and the door opened. Mr.Widemann was a very handsome young man, of thirty or thirty-two, withblack whiskers entirely surrounding his manly and expressive face;his morning dress showed a certain rural elegance. He seemed atfirst not only embarrassed but pained by our visit. The aimlesscuriosity of which he seemed to be the object was indeed odd. Ihastened to give him Mr. G----'s letter and to tell him what reasonbrought me. Then he gradually recovered himself, and at last showedhimself no less hospitable and obliging towards us than he to whom weowed the introduction had been, the day before.

Mr. Widemann then gathered together all his remembrances; he, too,had retained a vivid recollection of Sand, and he told us among otherthings that his father, at the risk of bringing himself into illodour, had asked leave to have a new scaffold made at his ownexpense, so that no other criminal might be executed upon the altarof the martyr's death. Permission had been given, and Mr. Widemannhad used the wood of the scaffold for the doors and windows of alittle country house standing in a vineyard. Then for three or fouryears this cottage became a shrine for pilgrims; but after a time,little by little, the crowd grew less, and at the present day, whensome of those who wiped the blood from the scaffold with theirhandkerchiefs have became public functionaries, receiving salariesfrom Government, only foreigners ask, now and again, to see thesestrange relics.

Mr. Widemann gave me a guide; for, after hearing everything, I wantedto see everything. The house stands half a league away fromHeidelberg, on the left of the road to Carlsruhe, and half-way up themountain-side. It is perhaps the only monument of the kind thatexists in the world.

Our readers will judge better from this anecdote than from anythingmore we could say, what sort of man he was who left such a memory inthe hearts of his gaoler and his executioner.

by Alexander Dumas, Pere

CELEBRATED CRIMES, VOLUME 4(of 8), Part 2

By Alexandre Dumas, Pere

URBAIN GRANDIER

1634

CHAPTER I

On Sunday, the 26th of November, 1631, there was great excitement inthe little town of Loudun, especially in the narrow streets which ledto the church of Saint-Pierre in the marketplace, from the gate ofwhich the town was entered by anyone coming from the direction of theabbey of Saint-Jouin-les-Marmes. This excitement was caused by theexpected arrival of a personage who had been much in people's mouthslatterly in Loudun, and about whom there was such difference ofopinion that discussion on the subject between those who were on hisside and those who were against him was carried on with trueprovincial acrimony. It was easy to see, by the varied expressionson the faces of those who turned the doorsteps into improviseddebating clubs, how varied were the feelings with which the man wouldbe welcomed who had himself formally announced to friends and enemiesalike the exact date of his return.

About nine o'clock a kind of sympathetic vibration ran through thecrowd, and with the rapidity of a flash of lightning the words,"There he is! there he is!" passed from group to group. At this crysome withdrew into their houses and shut their doors and darkenedtheir windows, as if it were a day of public mourning, while othersopened them wide, as if to let joy enter. In a few moments theuproar and confusion evoked by the news was succeeded by the deepsilence of breathless curiosity.

Then, through the silence, a figure advanced, carrying a branch oflaurel in one hand as a token of triumph. It was that of a young manof from thirty-two to thirty-four years of age, with a graceful andwell-knit frame, an aristocratic air and faultlessly beautifulfeatures of a somewhat haughty expression. Although he had walkedthree leagues to reach the town, the ecclesiastical garb which hewore was not only elegant but of dainty freshness. His eyes turnedto heaven, and singing in a sweet voice praise to the Lord, he passedthrough the streets leading to the church in the market-place with aslow and solemn gait, without vouchsafing a look, a word, or agesture to anyone. The entire crowd, falling into step, marchedbehind him as he advanced, singing like him, the singers being theprettiest girls in Loudun, for we have forgotten to say that thecrowd consisted almost entirely of women.

Meanwhile the object of all this commotion arrived at length at theporch of the church of Saint-Pierre. Ascending the steps, he kneltat the top and prayed in a low voice, then rising he touched thechurch doors with his laurel branch, and they opened wide as if bymagic, revealing the choir decorated and illuminated as if for one ofthe four great feasts of the year, and with all its scholars, choirboys, singers, beadles, and vergers in their places. Glancingaround, he for whom they were waiting came up the nave, passedthrough the choir, knelt for a second time at the foot of the altar,upon which he laid the branch of laurel, then putting on a robe aswhite as snow and passing the stole around his neck, he began thecelebration of the mass before a congregation composed of all thosewho had followed him. At the end of the mass a Te Deum was sung.

He who had just rendered thanks to God for his own victory with allthe solemn ceremonial usually reserved for the triumphs of kings wasthe priest Urbain Grandier. Two days before, he had been acquitted,in virtue of a decision pronounced by M. d'Escoubleau de Sourdis,Archbishop of Bordeaux, of an accusation brought against him of whichhe had been declared guilty by a magistrate, and in punishment ofwhich he had been condemned to fast on bread and water every Fridayfor three months, and forbidden to exercise his priestly functions inthe diocese of Poitiers for five years and in the town of Loudun forever.

These are the circumstances under which the sentence had been passedand the judgment reversed.

Urbain Grandier was born at Rovere, a village near Sable, a littletown of Bas-Maine. Having studied the sciences with his fatherPierre and his uncle Claude Grandier, who were learned astrologersand alchemists, he entered, at the age of twelve, the Jesuit collegeat Bordeaux, having already received the ordinary education of ayoung man. The professors soon found that besides his considerableattainments he had great natural gifts for languages and oratory;they therefore made of him a thorough classical scholar, and in orderto develop his oratorical talent encouraged him to practisepreaching. They soon grew very fond of a pupil who was likely tobring them so much credit, and as soon as he was old enough to takeholy orders they gave him the cure of souls in the parish of Saint-Pierre in Loudun, which was in the gift of the college. When he hadbeen some months installed there as a priest-in-charge, he received aprebendal stall, thanks to the same patrons, in the collegiate churchof Sainte-Croix.

It is easy to understand that the bestowal of these two positions onso young a man, who did not even belong to the province, made himseem in some sort a usurper of rights and privileges belonging to thepeople of the country, and drew upon him the envy of his brother-ecclesiastics. There were, in fact, many other reasons why Urbainshould be an object of jealousy to these: first, as we have alreadysaid, he was very handsome, then the instruction which he hadreceived from his father had opened the world of science to him andgiven him the key to a thousand things which were mysteries to theignorant, but which he fathomed with the greatest ease. Furthermore,the comprehensive course of study which he had followed at the Jesuitcollege had raised him above a crowd of prejudices, which are sacredto the vulgar, but for which he made no secret of his contempt; andlastly, the eloquence of his sermons had drawn to his church thegreater part of the regular congregations of the other religiouscommunities, especially of the mendicant orders, who had till then,in what concerned preaching, borne away the palm at Loudun. As wehave said, all this was more than enough to excite, first jealousy,and then hatred. And both were excited in no ordinary degree.

We all know how easily the ill-natured gossip of a small town canrouse the angry contempt of the masses for everything which is beyondor above them. In a wider sphere Urbain would have shone by his manygifts, but, cooped up as he was within the walls of a little town anddeprived of air and space, all that might have conduced to hissuccess in Paris led to his destruction at Loudun.

It was also unfortunate for Urbain that his character, far fromwinning pardon for his genius, augmented the hatred which the latterinspired. Urbain, who in his intercourse with his friends wascordial and agreeable, was sarcastic, cold, and haughty to hisenemies. When he had once resolved on a course, he pursued itunflinchingly; he jealously exacted all the honour due to the rank atwhich he had arrived, defending it as though it were a conquest; healso insisted on enforcing all his legal rights, and he resented theopposition and angry words of casual opponents with a harshness whichmade them his lifelong enemies.

The first example which Urbain gave of this inflexibility was in1620, when he gained a lawsuit against a priest named Meunier. Hecaused the sentence to be carried out with such rigour that he awokean inextinguishable hatred in Meunier's mind, which ever after burstforth on the slightest provocation.

A second lawsuit, which he likewise gained; was one which heundertook against the chapter of Sainte-Croix with regard to a house,his claim to which the chapter, disputed. Here again he displayedthe same determination to exact his strict legal rights to the lastiota, and unfortunately Mignon, the attorney of the unsuccessfulchapter, was a revengeful, vindictive, and ambitious man; toocommonplace ever to arrive at a high position, and yet too much abovehis surroundings to be content with the secondary position which heoccupied. This man, who was a canon of the collegiate church ofSainte-Croix and director of the Ursuline convent, will have animportant part to play in the following narrative. Being ashypocritical as Urbain was straightforward, his ambition was to gainwherever his name was known a reputation for exalted piety; hetherefore affected in his life the asceticism of an anchorite and theself-denial of a saint. As he had much experience in ecclesiasticallawsuits, he looked on the chapter's loss of this one, of which hehad in some sort guaranteed the success, as a personal humiliation,so that when Urbain gave himself airs of triumph and exacted the lastletter of his bond, as in the case of Meunier, he turned Mignon intoan enemy who was not only more relentless but more dangerous than theformer.

In the meantime, and in consequence of this lawsuit, a certain Barot,an uncle of Mignon and his partner as well, got up a dispute withUrbain, but as he was a man below mediocrity, Urbain required inorder to crush him only to let fall from the height of hissuperiority a few of those disdainful words which brand as deeply asa red-hot iron. This man, though totally wanting in parts, was veryrich, and having no children was always surrounded by a horde ofrelatives, every one of whom was absorbed in the attempt to makehimself so agreeable that his name would appear in Barot's will.This being so, the mocking words which were rained down on Barotspattered not only himself but also all those who had sided with himin the quarrel, and thus added considerably to the tale of Urbain'senemies.

About this epoch a still graver event took place. Amongst the mostassiduous frequenters of the confessional in his church was a youngand pretty girl, Julie by name, the daughter of the king's attorney,Trinquant--Trinquant being, as well as Barot, an uncle of Mignon.Now it happened that this young girl fell into such a state ofdebility that she was obliged to keep her room. One of her friends,named Marthe Pelletier, giving up society, of which she was veryfond, undertook to nurse the patient, and carried her devotion so faras to shut herself up in the same room with her. When JulieTrinquant had recovered and was able again to take her place in theworld, it came out that Marthe Pelletier, during her weeks ofretirement, had given birth to a child, which had been baptized andthen put out to nurse. Now, by one of those odd whims which so oftentake possession of the public mind, everyone in Loudun persisted inasserting that the real mother of the infant was not she who hadacknowledged herself as such--that, in short, Marthe Pelletier hadsold her good name to her friend Julie for a sum of money; and ofcourse it followed as a matter about which there could be no possibledoubt, that Urbain was the father.

Trinquant hearing of the reports about his daughter, took uponhimself as king's attorney to have Marthe Pelletier arrested andimprisoned. Being questioned about the child, she insisted that shewas its mother, and would take its maintenance upon herself. To havebrought a child into the world under such circumstances was a sin,but not a crime; Trinquant was therefore obliged to set Marthe atliberty, and the abuse of justice of which he was guilty served onlyto spread the scandal farther and to strengthen the public in thebelief it had taken up.

Hitherto, whether through the intervention of the heavenly powers, orby means of his own cleverness, Urbain Grandier had come out victorin every struggle in which he had engaged, but each victor had addedto the number of his enemies, and these were now so numerous that anyother than he would have been alarmed, and have tried either toconciliate them or to take precautions against their malice; butUrbain, wrapped in his pride, and perhaps conscious of his innocence,paid no attention to the counsels of his most faithful followers, butwent on his way unheeding.

All the opponents whom till now Urbain had encountered had beenentirely unconnected with each other, and had each struggled for hisown individual ends. Urbain's enemies, believing that the cause ofhis success was to be found in the want of cooperation amongthemselves, now determined to unite in order to crush him. Inconsequence, a conference was held at Barot's, at which, besidesBarot himself, Meunier, Trinquant, and Mignon took part, and thelatter had also brought with him one Menuau, a king's counsel and hisown most intimate friend, who was, however, influenced by othermotives than friendship in joining the conspiracy. The fact was,that Menuau was in love with a woman who had steadfastly refused toshow him any favour, and he had got firmly fixed in his head that thereason for her else inexplicable indifference and disdain was thatUrbain had been beforehand with him in finding an entrance to herheart. The object of the meeting was to agree as to the best meansof driving the common enemy out of Loudon and its neighbourhood.

Urbain's life was so well ordered that it presented little which hisenemies could use as a handle for their purpose. His only foibleseemed to be a predilection for female society; while in return allthe wives and daughters of the place, with the unerring instinct oftheir sex, seeing, that the new priest was young, handsome, andeloquent, chose him, whenever it was possible, as their spiritualdirector. As this preference had already offended many husbands andfathers, the decision the conspirators arrived at was that on thisside alone was Grandier vulnerable, and that their only chance ofsuccess was to attack him where he was weakest. Almost at once,therefore, the vague reports which had been floating about began toattain a certain definiteness: there were allusions made, though noname was mentioned, to a young girl in Loudun; who in spite ofGrandier's frequent unfaithfulness yet remained his mistress-in-chief; then it began to be whispered that the young girl, having hadconscientious scruples about her love for Urbain, he had allayed themby an act of sacrilege--that is to say, he had, as priest, in themiddle of the night, performed the service of marriage betweenhimself and his mistress. The more absurd the reports, the morecredence did they gain, and it was not long till everyone in Loudunbelieved them true, although no one was able to name the mysteriousheroine of the tale who had had the courage to contract a marriagewith a priest; and considering how small Loudun was, this was mostextraordinary.

Resolute and full of courage as was Grandier, at length he could notconceal from himself that his path lay over quicksands: he felt thatslander was secretly closing him round, and that as soon as he waswell entangled in her shiny folds, she would reveal herself byraising her abhorred head, and that then a mortal combat between themwould begin. But it was one of his convictions that to draw back wasto acknowledge one's guilt; besides, as far as he was concerned, itwas probably too late for him to retrace his steps. He thereforewent on his way, as unyielding, as scornful, and as haughty as ever.

Among those who were supposed to be most active in spreading theslanders relative to Urbain was a man called Duthibaut, a person ofimportance in the province, who was supposed by the townspeople tohold very advanced views, and who was a "Sir Oracle" to whom thecommonplace and vulgar turned for enlightenment. Some of this man'sstrictures on Grandier were reported to the latter, especially somecalumnies to which Duthibaut had given vent at the Marquis deBellay's; and one day, Grandier, arrayed in priestly garments, wasabout to enter the church of Sainte-Croix to assist in the service,he encountered Duthibaut at the entrance, and with his usual haughtydisdain accused him of slander. Duthibaut, who had got into thehabit of saying and doing whatever came into his head without fear ofbeing called to account, partly because of his wealth and partlybecause of the influence he had gained over the narrow-minded, whoare so numerous in a small provincial town, and who regarded him asbeing much above them, was so furious at this public reprimand, thathe raised his cane and struck Urbain.

The opportunity which this affront afforded Grandier of beingrevenged on all his enemies was too precious to be neglected, but,convinced, with too much reason, that he would never obtain justicefrom the local authorities, although the respect due to the Churchhad been infringed, in his person he decided to appeal to King LouisXIII, who deigned to receive him, and deciding that the insultoffered to a priest robed in the sacred vestments should be expiated,sent the cause to the high court of Parliament, with instructionsthat the case against Duthibaut should be tried and decided there.

Hereupon Urbain's enemies saw they had no time to lose, and tookadvantage of his absence to make counter accusations against him.Two worthies beings, named Cherbonneau and Bugrau, agreed to becomeinformers, and were brought before the ecclesiastical magistrate atPoitiers. They accused Grandier of having corrupted women and girls,of indulging in blasphemy and profanity, of neglecting to read hisbreviary daily, and of turning God's sanctuary into a place ofdebauchery and prostitution. The information was taken down, andLouis Chauvet, the civil lieutenant, and the archpriest of Saint-Marcel and the Loudenois, were appointed to investigate the matter,so that, while Urbain was instituting proceedings against Duthibautin Paris, information was laid against himself in Loudun. Thismatter thus set going was pushed forward with all the acrimony socommon in religious prosecutions; Trinquant appeared as a witness,and drew many others after him, and whatever omissions were found inthe depositions were interpolated according to the needs of theprosecution. The result was that the case when fully got up appearedto be so serious that it was sent to the Bishop of Poitiers fortrial. Now the bishop was not only surrounded by the friends ofthose who were bringing the accusations against Grandier, but hadhimself a grudge against him. It had happened some time before thatUrbain, the case being urgent, had dispensed with the usual notice ofa marriage, and the bishop, knowing this, found in the papers laidbefore him, superficial as they were, sufficient evidence againstUrbain to justify him in issuing a warrant for his apprehension,which was drawn up in the following words:

"Henri-Louis, Chataignier de la Rochepezai, by divine mercy Bishop ofPoitiers, in view of the charges and informations conveyed to us bythe archpriest of Loudun against Urbain Grandier, priest-in-charge ofthe Church of Saint-Pierre in the Market-Place at Loudun, in virtueof a commission appointed by us directed to the said archpriest, orin his absence to the Prior of Chassaignes, in view also of theopinion given by our attorney upon the said charges, have ordered anddo hereby order that Urbain Grandier, the accused, be quietly takento the prison in our palace in Poitiers, if it so be that he be takenand apprehended, and if not, that he be summoned to appear at hisdomicile within three days, by the first apparitor-priest, ortonsured clerk, and also by the first royal sergeant, upon thiswarrant, and we request the aid of the secular authorities, and tothem, or to any one of them, we hereby give power and authority tocarry out this decree notwithstanding any opposition or appeal, andthe said Grandier having been heard, such a decision will be given byour attorney as the facts may seem to warrant.

"Given at Dissay the 22nd day of October 1629, and signed in theoriginal as follows:

"HENRI-LOUIS, Bishop of Poitiers."

Grandier was, as we have said, at Paris when these proceedings weretaken against him, conducting before the Parliament his case againstDuthibaut. The latter received a copy of the decision arrived at bythe bishop, before Grandier knew of the charges that had beenformulated against him, and having in the course of his defence drawna terrible picture of the immorality of Grandier's life, he producedas a proof of the truth of his assertions the damning document whichhad been put into his hands. The court, not knowing what to think ofthe turn affairs had taken, decided that before considering theaccusations brought by Grandier, he must appear before his bishop toclear himself of the charges, brought against himself. Consequentlyhe left Paris at once, and arrived at Loudun, where he only stayedlong enough to learn what had happened in his absence, and then wenton to Poitiers in order to draw up his defence. He had, however, nosooner set foot in the place than he was arrested by a sheriff'sofficer named Chatry, and confined in the prison of the episcopalpalace.

It was the middle of November, and the prison was at all times coldand damp, yet no attention was paid to Grandier's request that heshould be transferred to some other place of confinement. Convincedby this that his enemies had more influence than he had supposed, heresolved to possess his soul in patience, and remained a prisoner fortwo months, during which even his warmest friends believed him lost,while Duthibaut openly laughed at the proceedings instituted againsthimself, which he now believed would never go any farther, and Barothad already selected one of his heirs, a certain Ismael Boulieau, assuccessor to Urbain as priest and prebendary.

It was arranged that the costs of the lawsuit should be defrayed outof a fund raised by the prosecutors, the rich paying for the poor;for as all the witnesses lived at Loudun and the trial was to takeplace at Poitiers, considerable expense would be incurred by thenecessity of bringing so many people such a distance; but the lust ofvengeance proved stronger than the lust of gold; the subscriptionexpected from each being estimated according to his fortune, eachpaid without a murmur, and at the end of two months the case wasconcluded.

In spite of the evident pains taken by the prosecution to strain theevidence against the defendant, the principal charge could not besustained, which was that he had led astray many wives and daughtersin Loudun. No one woman came forward to complain of her ruin byGrandier; the name of no single victim of his alleged immorality wasgiven. The conduct of the case was the most extraordinary ever seen;it was evident that the accusations were founded on hearsay and noton fact, and yet a decision and sentence against Grandier werepronounced on January 3rd, 1630. The sentence was as follows: Forthree months to fast each Friday on bread and water by way ofpenance; to be inhibited from the performance of clerical functionsin the diocese of Poitiers for five years, and in the town of Loudunfor ever.

Both parties appealed from this decision: Grandier to the Archbishopof Bordeaux, and his adversaries, on the advice of the attorney tothe diocese, pleading a miscarriage of justice, to the Parliament ofParis; this last appeal being made in order to overwhelm Grandier andbreak his spirit. But Grandier's resolution enabled him to face thisattack boldly: he engaged counsel to defend his case before theParliament, while he himself conducted his appeal to the Archbishopof Bordeaux. But as there were many necessary witnesses, and it wasalmost impossible to bring them all such a great distance, thearchiepiscopal court sent the appeal to the presidial court ofPoitiers. The public prosecutor of Poitiers began a freshinvestigation, which being conducted with impartiality was notencouraging to Grandier's accusers. There had been many conflictingstatements made by the witnesses, and these were now repeated: otherwitnesses had declared quite openly that they had been bribed; othersagain stated that their depositions had been tampered with; andamongst these latter was a certain priest named Mechin, and also thatIshmael Boulieau whom Barot had been in such a hurry to select ascandidate for the reversion of Grandier's preferments. Boulieau'sdeposition has been lost, but we can lay Mechin's before the reader,for the original has been preserved, just as it issued from his pen:

"I, Gervais Mechin, curate-in-charge of the Church of Saint-Pierre inthe Market Place at Loudun, certify by these presents, signed by myhand, to relieve my conscience as to a certain report which is beingspread abroad, that I had said in support of an accusation brought byGilles Robert, archpriest, against Urbain Grandier, priest-in-chargeof Saint-Pierre, that I had found the said Grandier lying with womenand girls in the church of Saint Pierre, the doors being closed.

"ITEM, that on several different occasions, at unsuitable hours bothday and night, I had seen women and girls disturb the said Grandierby going into his bedroom, and that some of the said women remainedwith him from one o'clock in the after noon till three o'clock thenext morning, their maids bringing them their suppers and going awayagain at once.

"ITEM, that I had seen the said Grandier in the church, the doorsbeing open, but that as soon as some women entered he closed them.

"As I earnestly desire that such reports should cease, I declare bythese presents that I have never seen the said Grandier with women orgirls in the church, the doors being closed; that I have never foundhim there alone with women or girls; that when he spoke to eithersomeone else was always present, and the doors were open; and as totheir posture, I think I made it sufficiently clear when in thewitness-box that Grandier was seated and the women scattered over thechurch; furthermore, I have never seen either women or girls enterGrandier's bedroom either by day or night, although it is true that Ihave heard people in the corridor coming and going late in theevening, who they were I cannot say, but a brother of the saidGrandier sleeps close by; neither have I any knowledge that eitherwomen or girls, had their suppers brought to the said room. I havealso never said that he neglected the reading of his breviary,because that would be contrary to the truth, seeing that on severaloccasions he borrowed mine and read his hours in it. I also declarethat I have never seen him close the doors of the church, and thatwhenever I have seen him speaking to women I have never noticed anyimpropriety; I have not ever seen him touch them in any way, theyhave only spoken together; and if anything is found in my depositioncontrary to the above, it is without my knowledge, and was never readto me, for I would not have signed it, and I say and affirm all thisin homage to the truth.

"Done the last day of October 1630,"(Signed) G. MECHIN."

In the face of such proofs of innocence none of the accusations couldbe considered as established and so, according to the decision of thepresidial court of Poitiers, dated the 25th of May 1634, the decisionof the bishop's court was reversed, and Grandier was acquitted of thecharges brought against him. However, he had still to appear beforethe Archbishop of Bordeaux, that his acquittal might be ratified.Grandier took advantage of a visit which the archbishop paid to hisabbey at Saint-Jouin-les-Marmes, which was only three leagues fromLoudun, to make this appearance; his adversaries, who werediscouraged by the result of the proceedings at Poitiers, scarcelymade any defence, and the archbishop, after an examination whichbrought clearly to light the innocence of the accused, acquitted andabsolved him.

The rehabilitation of Grandier before his bishop had two importantresults: the first was that it clearly established his innocence, andthe second that it brought into prominence his high attainments andeminent qualities. The archbishop seeing the persecutions to whichhe was subjected, felt a kindly interest in him, and advised him toexchange into some other diocese, leaving a town the principalinhabitants of which appeared to have vowed him a relentless hate.But such an abandonment of his rights was foreign to the character ofUrbain, and he declared to his superior that, strong in His Grace'sapprobation and the testimony of his own conscience, he would remainin the place to which God had called him. Monseigneur de Sourdis didnot feel it his duty to urge Urbain any further, but he had enoughinsight into his character to perceive that if Urbain should one dayfall, it would be, like Satan, through pride; for he added anothersentence to his decision, recommending him to fulfil the duties ofhis office with discretion and modesty, according to the decrees ofthe Fathers and the canonical constitutions. The triumphal entry ofUrbain into Loudun with which we began our narrative shows the spiritin which he took his recommendation.

CHAPTER II

Urbain Granadier was not satisfied with the arrogant demonstration bywhich he signalised his return, which even his friends had felt to beill advised; instead of allowing the hate he had aroused to die awayor at least to fall asleep by letting the past be past, he continuedwith more zeal than ever his proceedings against Duthibaut, andsucceeded in obtaining a decree from the Parliament of La Tournelle,by which Duthibaut was summoned before it, and obliged to listenbareheaded to a reprimand, to offer apologies, and to pay damages andcosts.

Having thus got the better of one enemy, Urbain turned on the others,and showed himself more indefatigable in the pursuit of justice thanthey had been in the pursuit of vengeance. The decision of thearchbishop had given him a right to a sum of money for compensation,and interest thereon, as well as to the restitution of the revenuesof his livings, and there being some demur made, he announcedpublicly that he intended to exact this reparation to the uttermostfarthing, and set about collecting all the evidence which wasnecessary for the success of a new lawsuit for libel and forgerywhich he intended to begin. It was in vain that his friends assuredhim that the vindication of his innocence had been complete andbrilliant, it was in vain that they tried to convince him of thedanger of driving the vanquished to despair, Urbain replied that hewas ready to endure all the persecutions which his enemies mightsucceed in inflicting on him, but as long as he felt that he hadright upon his side he was incapable of drawing back.

Grandier's adversaries soon became conscious of the storm which wasgathering above their heads, and feeling that the struggle betweenthemselves and this man would be one of life or death, Mignon, Barot,Meunier, Duthibaut, and Menuau met Trinquant at the village ofPindadane, in a house belonging to the latter, in order to consultabout the dangers which threatened them. Mignon had, however,already begun to weave the threads of a new intrigue, which heexplained in full to the others; they lent a favourable ear, and hisplan was adopted. We shall see it unfold itself by degrees, for itis the basis of our narrative.

We have already said that Mignon was the director of the convent ofUrsulines at Loudun: Now the Ursuline order was quite modern, for thehistoric controversies to which the slightest mention of themartyrdom of St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins gave rise,had long hindered the foundation of an order in the saint's honour.However, in 1560 Madame Angele de Bresse established such an order inItaly, with the same rules as the Augustinian order. This gained theapprobation of Pope Gregory XIII in 1572. In 1614, MadeleineLhuillier, with the approval of Pope Paul V, introduced this orderinto France, by founding a convent at Paris, whence it rapidly spreadover the whole kingdom, so-that in 1626, only six years before thetime when the events just related took place, a sisterhood wasfounded in the little town of Loudun.

Although this community at first consisted entirely of ladies of goodfamily, daughters of nobles, officers, judges, and the better classof citizens, and numbered amongst its founders Jeanne de Belfield,daughter of the late Marquis of Cose, and relative of M. deLaubardemont, Mademoiselle de Fazili, cousin of the cardinal-duke,two ladies of the house of Barbenis de Nogaret, Madame de Lamothe,daughter of the Marquis Lamothe-Barace of Anjou, and Madamed'Escoubleau de Sourdis, of the same family as the Archbishop ofBordeaux, yet as these nuns had almost all entered the conventbecause of their want of fortune, the community found itself at thetime of its establishment richer in blood than in money, and wasobliged instead of building to purchase a private house. The ownerof this house was a certain Moussaut du Frene, whose brother was apriest. This brother, therefore, naturally became the first directorof these godly women. Less than a year after his appointment hedied, and the directorship became vacant.

The Ursulines had bought the house in which they lived much below itsnormal value, for it was regarded as a haunted house by all the town.The landlord had rightly thought that there was no better way ofgetting rid of the ghosts than to confront them with a religioussisterhood, the members of which, passing their days in fasting andprayer, would be hardly likely to have their nights disturbed by badspirits; and in truth, during the year which they had already passedin the house, no ghost had ever put in an appearance--a fact whichhad greatly increased the reputation of the nuns for sanctity.

When their director died, it so happened that the boarders tookadvantage of the occasion to indulge in some diversion at the expenseof the older nuns, who were held in general detestation by the youthof the establishment on account of the rigour with which theyenforced the rules of the order. Their plan was to raise once morethose spirits which had been, as everyone supposed, permanentlyrelegated to outer darkness. So noises began to be heard on the roofof the house, which resolved themselves into cries and groans; thengrowing bolder, the spirits entered the attics and garrets,announcing their presence by clanking of chains; at last they becameso familiar that they invaded the dormitories, where they dragged thesheets off the sisters and abstracted their clothes.

Great was the terror in the convent, and great the talk in the town,so that the mother superior called her wisest, nuns around her andasked them what, in their opinion, would be the best course to takein the delicate circumstances in which they found themselves.Without a dissentient voice, the conclusion arrived at was, that thelate director should be immediately replaced by a man still holierthan he, if such a man could be found, and whether because hepossessed a reputation for sanctity, or for some other reason, theirchoice fell on Urbain Grandier. When the offer of the post wasbrought to him, he answered that he was already responsible for twoimportant charges, and that he therefore had not enough time to watchover the snow-white flock which they wished to entrust to him, as agood shepherd should, and he recommended the lady superior to seekout another more worthy and less occupied than himself.

This answer, as may be supposed, wounded the self-esteem of thesisters: they next turned their eyes towards Mignon, priest and canonof the collegiate church of Sainte-Croix, and he, although he feltdeeply hurt that they had not thought first of him, accepted theposition eagerly; but the recollection that Grandier had beenpreferred before himself kept awake in, him one of those bitterhatreds which time, instead of soothing, intensifies. From theforegoing narrative the reader can see to what this hate led.

As soon as the new director was appointed, the mother superiorconfided to him the kind of foes which he would be expected tovanquish. Instead of comforting her by the assurance that no ghostsexisting, it could not be ghosts who ran riot in the house, Mignonsaw that by pretending to lay these phantoms he could acquire thereputation for holiness he so much desired. So he answered that theHoly Scriptures recognised the existence of ghosts by relating howthe witch of Endor had made the shade of Samuel appear to Saul. Hewent on to say that the ritual of the Church possessed means ofdriving away all evil spirits, no matter how persistent they were,provided that he who undertook the task were pure in thought anddeed, and that he hoped soon, by the help of God, to rid the conventof its nocturnal visitants, whereupon as a preparation for theirexpulsion he ordered a three days' fast, to be followed by a generalconfession.

It does not require any great cleverness to understand how easilyMignon arrived at the truth by questioning the young penitents asthey came before him. The boarders who had played at being ghostsconfessed their folly, saying that they had been helped by a youngnovice of sixteen years of age, named Marie Aubin. She acknowledgedthat this was true; it was she who used to get up in the middle ofthe night, and open the dormitory door, which her more timid room-mates locked most carefully from within every night, before going tobed--a fact which greatly increased their terror when, despite theirprecautions, the ghosts still got in. Under pretext of not exposingthem to the anger of the superior, whose suspicions would be sure tobe awakened if the apparitions were to disappear immediately afterthe general confession, Mignon directed them to renew their nightlyfrolics from time to time, but at longer and longer intervals. Hethen sought an interview with the superior, and assured her that hehad found the minds of all those under her charge so chaste and purethat he felt sure through his earnest prayers he would soon clear theconvent of the spirits which now pervaded it.

Everything happened as the director had foretold, and the reputationfor sanctity of the holy man, who by watching and praying haddelivered the worthy Ursulines from their ghostly assailants,increased enormously in the town of Loudun.

CHAPTER III

Hardly had tranquillity been restored when Mignon, Duthibaut, Menuau,Meunier, and Barot, having lost their cause before the Archbishop ofBordeaux, and finding themselves threatened by Grandier with aprosecution for libel and forgery, met together to consult as to thebest means of defending themselves before the unbending severity ofthis man, who would, they felt, destroy them if they did not destroyhim.

The result of this consultation was that very shortly afterwardsqueer reports began to fly about; it was whispered that the ghostswhom the pious director had expelled had again invaded the convent,under an invisible and impalpable form, and that several of the nunshad given, by their words and acts, incontrovertible proofs of beingpossessed.

When these reports were mentioned to Mignon, he, instead of denyingtheir truth, cast up his eyes to heaven and said that God wascertainly a great and merciful God, but it was also certain thatSatan was very clever, especially when he was barked by that falsehuman science called magic. However, as to the reports, though theywere not entirely without foundation, he would not go so far as tosay that any of the sisters were really possessed by devils, thatbeing a question which time alone could decide.

The effect of such an answer on minds already prepared to listen tothe most impossible things, may easily be guessed. Mignon let thegossip go its rounds for several months without giving it any freshfood, but at length, when the time was ripe, he called on the priestof Saint-Jacques at Chinon, and told him that matters had now come tosuch a pass in the Ursuline convent that he felt it impossible tobear up alone under the responsibility of caring for the salvation ofthe afflicted nuns, and he begged him to accompany him to theconvent. This priest, whose name was Pierre Barre, was exactly theman whom Mignon needed in such a crisis. He was of melancholytemperament, and dreamed dreams and saw visions; his one ambition wasto gain a reputation for asceticism and holiness. Desiring tosurround his visit with the solemnity befitting such an importantevent, he set out for Loudun at the head of all his parishioners, thewhole procession going on foot, in order to arouse interest andcuriosity; but this measure was quite needless it took less than thatto set the town agog.

While the faithful filled the churches offering up prayers for thesuccess of the exorcisms, Mignon and Barre entered upon their task atthe convent, where they remained shut up with the nuns for six hours.At the end of this time Barre appeared and announced to hisparishioners that they might go back to Chinon without him, for hehad made up his mind to remain for the present at Loudun, in order toaid the venerable director of the Ursuline convent in the holy workhe had undertaken; he enjoined on them to pray morning and evening,with all possible fervour, that, in spite of the serious dangers bywhich it was surrounded, the good cause might finally triumph. Thisadvice, unaccompanied as it was by any explanation, redoubled thecuriosity of the people, and the belief gained ground that it was notmerely one or two nuns who were possessed of devils, but the wholesisterhood. It was not very long before the name of the magician whohad worked this wonder began to be mentioned quite openly: Satan, itwas said, had drawn Urbain Grandier into his power, through hispride. Urbain had entered into a pact with the Evil Spirit by whichhe had sold him his soul in return for being made the most learnedman on earth. Now, as Urbain's knowledge was much greater than thatof the inhabitants of Loudun, this story gained general credence inthe town, although here and there was to be found a man sufficientlyenlightened to shrug his shoulders at these absurdities, and to laughat the mummeries, of which as yet he saw only the ridiculous side,

For the next ten or twelve days Mignon and Barre spent the greaterpart of their time at the convent; sometimes remaining there for sixhours at a stretch, sometimes the entire day. At length, on Monday,the 11th of October, 1632, they wrote to the priest of Venier, toMessire Guillaume Cerisay de la Gueriniere, bailiff of the Loudenois,and to Messire Louis Chauvet, civil lieutenant, begging them to visitthe Ursuline convent, in order to examine two nuns who were possessedby evil spirits, and to verify the strange and almost incrediblemanifestations of this possession. Being thus formally appealed to,the two magistrates could not avoid compliance with the request. Itmust be confessed that they were not free from curiosity, and feltfar from sorry at being able to get to the bottom of the mystery ofwhich for some time the whole town was talking. They repaired,therefore, to the convent, intending to make a thorough investigationas to the reality of the possession and as to the efficacy of theexorcisms employed. Should they judge that the nuns were reallypossessed, and that those who tried to deliver them were in earnest,they would authorise the continuation of the efforts at exorcism; butif they were not satisfied on these two points, they would soon putan end to the whole thing as a comedy. When they reached the door,Mignon, wearing alb and stole, came to meet them. He told them thatthe feelings of the nuns had for more than two weeks been harrowed bythe apparition of spectres and other blood-curdling visions, that themother superior and two nuns had evidently been possessed by evilspirits for over a week; that owing to the efforts of Barre and sameCarmelite friars who were good enough to assist him against theircommon enemies, the devils had been temporarily driven out, but onthe previous Sunday night, the 10th of October, the mother superior,Jeanne de Belfield, whose conventual name was Jeanne des Anges, and alay sister called Jeanne Dumagnoux, had again been entered into bythe same spirits. It had, however, been discovered by means ofexorcisms that a new compact, of which the symbol and token was abunch of roses, had been concluded, the symbol and token of the firsthaving been three black thorns. He added that during the time of thefirst possession the demons had refused to give their names, but bythe power of his exorcisms this reluctance had been overcome, thespirit which had resumed possession of the mother superior having atlength revealed that its name was Ashtaroth, one of the greatestenemies of God, while the devil which had entered into the lay sisterwas of a lower order, and was called Sabulon. Unfortunately,continued Mignon, just now the two afflicted nuns were resting, andhe requested the bailiff and the civil lieutenant to put off theirinspection till a little later. The two magistrates were just aboutto go away, when a nun appeared, saying that the devils were againdoing their worst with the two into whom they had entered.Consequently, they accompanied Mignon and the priest from Venier toan upper room, in which were seven narrow beds, of which two onlywere occupied, one by the mother superior and the other by the laysister. The superior, who was the more thoroughly possessed of thetwo, was surrounded by the Carmelite monks, the sisters belonging tothe convent, Mathurin Rousseau, priest and canon of Sainte-Croix, andMannouri, a surgeon from the town.

No sooner did the two magistrates join the others than the superiorwas seized with violent convulsions, writhing and uttering squeals inexact imitation of a sucking pig. The two magistrates looked on inprofound astonishment, which was greatly increased when they saw thepatient now bury herself in her bed, now spring right out of it, thewhole performance being accompanied by such diabolical gestures andgrimaces that, if they were not quite convinced that the possessionwas genuine, they were at least filled with admiration of the mannerin which it was simulated. Mignon next informed the bailiff and thecivil lieutenant, that although the superior had never learned Latinshe would reply in that language to all the questions addressed toher, if such were their desire. The magistrates answered that asthey were there in order to examine thoroughly into the facts of thecase, they begged the exorcists to give them every possible proofthat the possession was real. Upon this, Mignon approached themother superior, and, having ordered everyone to be silent, placedtwo of his fingers in her mouth, and, having gone through the form ofexorcism prescribed by the ritual, he asked the following questionsword for word as they are given,

D. Why have you entered into the body of this young girl?R. Causa animositatis. Out of enmity.D. Per quod pactum? By what pact?R. Per flores. By flowers.D. Quales? What flowers?R. Rosas. Roses.D. Quis misfit? By whom wert thou sent?

At this question the magistrates remarked that the superior hesitatedto reply; twice she opened her mouth in vain, but the third time shesaid in a weak voice

D. Dic cognomen? What is his surname?R. Urbanus. Urbain.

Here there was again the same hesitation, but as if impelled by thewill of the exorcist she answered--

R. Grandier. Grandier.D. Dic qualitatem? What is his profession?R. Sacerdos. A priest.D. Cujus ecclesiae? Of what church?R. Sancti Petri. Saint-Pierre.D. Quae persona attulit flores? Who brought the flowers?R. Diabolica. Someone sent by the devil.

As the patient pronounced the last word she recovered her senses, andhaving repeated a prayer, attempted to swallow a morsel of breadwhich was offered her; she was, however, obliged to spit it out,saying it was so dry she could not get it down.

Something more liquid was then brought, but even of that she couldswallow very little, as she fell into convulsions every few minutes.

Upon this the two officials, seeing there was nothing more to be gotout of the superior, withdrew to one of the window recesses and beganto converse in a low tone; whereupon Mignon, who feared that they hadnot been sufficiently impressed, followed them, and drew theirattention to the fact that there was much in what they had just seento recall the case of Gaufredi, who had been put to death a few yearsbefore in consequence of a decree of the Parliament of Aix, inProvence. This ill-judged remark of Mignon showed so clearly whathis aim was that the magistrates made no reply. The civil lieutenantremarked that he had been surprised that Mignon had not made anyattempt to find out the cause of the enmity of which the superior hadspoken, and which it was so important to find out; but Mignon excusedhimself by saying that he had no right to put questions merely togratify curiosity. The civil lieutenant was about to insist on thematter being investigated, when the lay sister in her turn went intoa fit, thus extricating Mignon from his embarrassment. Themagistrates approached the lay sister's bed at once, and directedMignon to put the same questions to her as to the superior: he didso, but all in vain; all she would reply was, "To the other! To theother!"

Mignon explained this refusal to answer by saying that the evilspirit which was in her was of an inferior order, and referred allquestioners to Ashtaroth, who was his superior. As this was the onlyexplanation, good or bad, offered them by Mignon, the magistrateswent away, and drew up a report of all they had seen and heardwithout comment, merely appending their signatures.

But in the town very few people showed the same discretion andreticence as the magistrates. The bigoted believed, the hypocritespretended to believe; and the worldly-minded, who were numerous,discussed the doctrine of possession in all its phases, and made nosecret of their own entire incredulity. They wondered, and notwithout reason it must be confessed, what had induced the devils togo out of the nuns' bodies for two days only, and then come back andresume possession, to the confusion of the exorcists; further, theywanted to know why the mother superior's devil spoke Latin, while thelay sister's was ignorant of that tongue; for a mere difference ofrank in the hierarchy of hell did not seem a sufficient explanationof such a difference in education; Mignon's refusal to go on with hisinterrogations as to the cause of the enmity made them, they said,suspect that, knowing he had reached the end of Ashtaroth's classicalknowledge, he felt it useless to try to continue the dialogue in theCiceronian idiom. Moreover, it was well known that only a few daysbefore all Urbain's worst enemies had met in conclave in the villageof Puidardane; and besides, how stupidly Mignon had shown his hand bymentioning Gaufredi, the priest who had been executed at Aix: lastly,why had not a desire for impartiality been shown by calling in otherthan Carmelite monks to be present at the exorcism, that order havinga private quarrel with Grandier? It must be admitted that this wayof looking at the case was not wanting in shrewdness.

On the following day, October 12th, the bailiff and the civillieutenant, having heard that exorcisms had been again tried withouttheir having been informed beforehand, requested a certain CanonRousseau to accompany them, and set out with him and their clerk forthe convent. On arriving, they asked for Mignon, and on hisappearance they told him that this matter of exorcism was of suchimportance that no further steps were to be taken in it without theauthorities being present, and that in future they were to be giventimely notice of every attempt to get rid of the evil spirits. Theyadded that this was all the more necessary as Mignon's position asdirector of the sisterhood and his well-known hate for Grandier woulddraw suspicions on him unworthy of his cloth, suspicions which heought to be the first to wish to see dissipated, and that quickly;and that, therefore, the work which he had so piously begun would becompleted by exorcists appointed by the court.

Mignon replied that, though he had not the slightest objection to themagistrates being present at all the exorcisms, yet he could notpromise that the spirits would reply to anyone except himself andBarre. Just at that moment Barre came on the scene, paler and moregloomy than ever, and speaking with the air of a man whose word noone could help believing, he announced that before their arrival somemost extraordinary things had taken place. The magistrates askedwhat things, and Barre replied that he had learned from the mothersuperior that she was possessed, not by one, but by seven devils, ofwhom Ashtaroth was the chief; that Grandier had entrusted his pactwith the devil, under the symbol of a bunch of roses, to a certainJean Pivart, to give to a girl who had introduced it into the conventgarden by throwing it over the wall; that this took place in thenight between Saturday and Sunday "hora secunda nocturna" (two hoursafter midnight); that those were the very words the superior hadused, but that while she readily named Pivart, she absolutely refusedto give the name of the girl; that on asking what Pivart was; she hadreplied, "Pauper magus" (a poor magician); that he then had pressedher as to the word magus, and that she had replied "Magicianus etcivis" (magician and citizen); and that just as she said those wordsthe magistrates had arrived, and he had asked no more questions.

The two officials listened to this information with the seriousnessbefitting men entrusted with high judicial functions, and announcedto the two priests that they proposed to visit the possessed womenand witness for themselves the miracles that were taking place. Theclerics offered no opposition, but said they feared that the devilswere fatigued and would refuse to reply; and, in fact, when theofficials reached the sickroom the two patients appeared to haveregained some degree of calm. Mignon took advantage of this quietmoment to say mass, to which the two magistrates listened devoutlyand tranquilly, and while the sacrifice was being offered the demonsdid not dare to move. It was expected that they would offer someopposition at the elevation of the Host, but everything passed offwithout disturbance, only the lay sister's hands and feet twitched agreat deal; and this was the only fact which the magistrates thoughtworthy of mention in their report for that morning. Barre assuredthem, however, that if they would return about three o'clock thedevils would probably have recovered sufficiently from their fatigueto give a second performance.

As the two gentlemen had determined to see the affair to the end,they returned to the convent at the hour named, accompanied byMessire Irenee de Sainte-Marthe, sieur Deshurneaux; and found theroom in which the possessed were lying full of curious spectators;for the exorcists had been true prophets--the devils were at workagain.

The superior, as always, was the more tormented of the two, as wasonly to be expected, she having seven devils in her all at once; shewas terribly convulsed, and was writhing and foaming at the mouth asif she were mad. No one could long continue in such a conditionwithout serious injury to health; Barre therefore asked the devil-in-chief how soon he would come out. "Cras mane" (To-morrow morning),he replied. The exorcist then tried to hurry him, asking him why hewould not come out at once; whereupon the superior murmured the word"Pactum" (A pact); and then "Sacerdos" (A priest), and finally"Finis," or "Finit," for even those nearest could not catch the worddistinctly, as the devil, afraid doubtless of perpetrating abarbarism, spoke through the nun's closely clenched teeth. Thisbeing all decidedly unsatisfying, the magistrates insisted that theexamination should continue, but the devils had again exhaustedthemselves, and refused to utter another word. The priest even triedtouching the superior's head with the pyx, while prayers and litanieswere recited, but it was all in vain, except that some of thespectators thought that the contortions of the patient became moreviolent when the intercessions of certain saints were invoked, as forinstance Saints Augustine Jerome, Antony, and Mary Magdalene. Barrenext directed the mother superior to dedicate her heart and soul toGod, which she did without difficulty; but when he commanded her todedicate her body also, the chief devil indicated by freshconvulsions that he was not going to allow himself to be deprived ofa domicile without resistance, and made those who had heard him saythat he would leave the next morning feel that he had only said sounder compulsion; and their curiosity as to the result becameheightened. At length, however, despite the obstinate resistance ofthe demon, the superior succeeded in dedicating her body also to God,and thus victorious her features resumed their usual expression, andsmiling as if nothing had happened, she turned to Barre and said thatthere was no vestige of Satan left in her. The civil lieutenant thenasked her if she remembered the questions she had been asked and theanswers she had given, but she replied that she remembered nothing;but afterwards, having taken some refreshment, she said to thosearound her that she recollected perfectly how the first possession,over which Mignon had triumphed, had taken place: one evening aboutten o'clock, while several nuns were still in her room, although shewas already in bed, it seemed to her that someone took her hand andlaid something in it, closing her fingers; at that instant she felt asharp pain as if she had been pricked by three pins, and hearing herscream, the nuns came to her bedside to ask what ailed her. She heldout her hand, and they found three black thorns sticking in it, eachhaving made a tiny wound. Just as she had told this tale, the laysister, as if to prevent all commentary, was seized with convulsions,and Barre recommenced his prayers and exorcisms, but was sooninterrupted by shrieks; for one of the persons present had seen ablack cat come down the chimney and disappear. Instantly everyoneconcluded it must be the devil, and began to seek it out. It was notwithout great difficulty that it was caught; for, terrified at thesight of so many people and at the noise, the poor animal had soughtrefuge under a canopy; but at last it was secured and carried to thesuperior's bedside, where Barre began his exorcisms once more,covering the cat with signs of the cross, and adjuring the devil totake his true shape. Suddenly the 'touriere', (the woman whoreceived the tradespeople,) came forward, declaring the supposeddevil to be only her cat, and she immediately took possession of it,lest some harm should happen to it.

The gathering had been just about to separate, but Barry fearing thatthe incident of the cat might throw a ridiculous light upon the evilspirits, resolved to awake once more a salutary terror by announcingthat he was going to burn the flowers through which the second spellhad been made to work. Producing a bunch of white roses, alreadyfaded, he ordered a lighted brazier to be brought. He then threw theflowers on the glowing charcoal, and to the general astonishment theywere consumed without any visible effect: the heavens still smiled,no peal of thunder was heard, and no unpleasant odour diffused itselfthrough the room. Barre feeling that the baldness of this act ofdestruction had had a bad effect, predicted that the morrow wouldbring forth wondrous things; that the chief devil would speak moredistinctly than hitherto; that he would leave the body of thesuperior, giving such clear signs of his passage that no one woulddare to doubt any longer that it was a case of genuine possession.Thereupon the criminal lieutenant, Henri Herve, who had been presentduring the exorcism, said they must seize upon the moment of his exitto ask about Pivart, who was unknown at Loudun, although everyone wholived there knew everybody else. Barre replied in Latin, "Et hocdicet epuellam nominabit" (He will not only tell about him, but hewill also name the young girl). The young girl whom the devil was toname was, it may be recollected, she who had introduced the flowersinto the convent, and whose name the demon until now had absolutelyrefused to give. On the strength of these promises everyone wenthome to await the morrow with impatience.

CHAPTER IV

That evening Grandier asked the bailiff for an audience. At first hehad made fun of the exorcisms, for the story had been so badlyconcocted, and the accusations were so glaringly improbable, that hehad not felt the least anxiety. But as the case went on it assumedsuch an important aspect, and the hatred displayed by his enemies wasso intense, that the fate of the priest Gaufredi, referred to byMignon, occurred to Urbain's mind, and in order to be beforehand withhis enemies he determined to lodge a complaint against them. Thiscomplaint was founded on the fact that Mignon had performed the riteof exorcism in the presence of the civil lieutenant, the bailiff, andmany other persons, and had caused the nuns who were said to bepossessed, in the hearing of all these people, to name him, Urbain,as the author of their possession. This being a falsehood and anattack upon his honour, he begged the bailiff, in whose hands theconduct of the affair had been specially placed, to order the nuns tobe sequestered, apart from the rest of the sisterhood and from eachother, and then to have each separately examined. Should thereappear to be any evidence of possession, he hoped that the bailiffwould be pleased to appoint clerics of well-known rank and uprightcharacter to perform whatever exorcisms were needful; such men havingno bias against him would be more impartial than Mignon and hisadherents. He also called upon the bailiff to have an exact reportdrawn up of everything that took place at the exorcisms, in orderthat, if necessary, he as petitioner might be able to lay it beforeanyone to whose judgment he might appeal. The bailiff gave Grandiera statement of the conclusions at which he had arrived, and told himthat the exorcisms had been performed that day by Barre, armed withthe authority of the Bishop of Poitiers himself. Being, as we haveseen, a man of common sense and entirely unprejudiced in the matter,the bailiff advised Grandier to lay his complaint before his bishop;but unfortunately he was under the authority of the Bishop ofPoitiers, who was so prejudiced against him that he had doneeverything in his power to induce the Archbishop of Bordeaux torefuse to ratify the decision in favour of Grandier, pronounced bythe presidial court. Urbain could not hide from the magistrate thathe had nothing to hope for from this quarter, and it was decided thathe should wait and see what the morrow would bring forth, beforetaking any further step.

The impatiently expected day dawned at last, and at eight o'clock inthe morning the bailiff, the king's attorney, the civil lieutenant,the criminal lieutenant, and the provost's lieutenant, with theirrespective clerks, were already at the convent. They found the outergate open, but the inner door shut. In a few moments Mignon came tothem and brought them into a waiting-room. There he told them thatthe nuns were preparing for communion, and that he would be very muchobliged to them if they would withdraw and wait in a house across thestreet, just opposite the convent, and that he would send them wordwhen they could come back. The magistrates, having first informedMignon of Urbain's petition, retired as requested.

An hour passed, and as Mignon did not summon them, in spite of hispromise, they all went together to the convent chapel, where theywere told the exorcisms were already over. The nuns had quitted thechoir, and Mignon and Barre came to the grating and told them thatthey had just completed the rite, and that, thanks to theirconjurations, the two afflicted ones were now quite free from evilspirits. They went on to say that they had been working together atthe exorcism from seven o'clock in the morning, and that greatwonders, of which they had drawn up an account, had come to pass; butthey had considered it would not be proper to allow any one else tobe present during the ceremony besides the exorcists and thepossessed. The bailiff pointed out that their manner of proceedingswas not only illegal, but that it laid them under suspicion of fraudand collusion, in the eyes of the impartial: Moreover, as thesuperior had accused Grandier publicly, she was bound to renew andprove her accusation also publicly, and not in secret; furthermore,it was a great piece of insolence on the part of the exorcists toinvite people of their standing and character to come to the convent,and having kept them waiting an hour, to tell them that theyconsidered them unworthy to be admitted to the ceremony which they.had been requested to attend; and he wound up by saying that he woulddraw up a report, as he had already done on each of the precedingdays, setting forth the extraordinary discrepancy between theirpromises and their performance. Mignon replied that he and Barre hadhad only one thing in view, viz. the expulsion of the, demons, andthat in that they had succeeded, and that their success would be ofgreat benefit to the holy Catholic faith, for they had got the demonsso thoroughly into their power that they had been able to commandthem to produce within a week miraculous proofs of the spells cast onthe nuns by Urbain Grandier and their wonderful deliverancetherefrom; so that in future no one would be able to doubt as to thereality of the possession. Thereupon the magistrates drew up areport of all that had happened, and of what Barre and Mignon hadsaid. This was signed by all the officials present, except thecriminal lieutenant, who declared that, having perfect confidence inthe statements of the exorcists, he was anxious to do nothing toincrease the doubting spirit which was unhappily so prevalent amongthe worldly.

The same day the bailiff secretly warned Urbain of the refusal of thecriminal lieutenant to join with the others in signing the report,and almost at the same moment he learned that the cause of hisadversaries was strengthened by the adhesion of a certain MessireRene Memin, seigneur de Silly, and prefect of the town. Thisgentleman was held in great esteem not only on account of his wealthand the many offices which he filled, but above all on account of hispowerful friends, among whom was the cardinal-duke himself, to whomhe had formerly been of use when the cardinal was only a prior. Thecharacter of the conspiracy had now become so alarming that Grandierfelt it was time to oppose it with all his strength. Recalling hisconversation with the bailiff the preceding day, during which he hadadvised him to lay his complaint before the Bishop of Poitiers, heset out, accompanied by a priest of Loudun, named Jean Buron, for theprelate's country house at Dissay. The bishop, anticipating hisvisit, had already given his orders, and Grandier was met by Dupuis,the intendant of the palace, who, in reply to Grandier's request tosee the bishop, told him that his lordship was ill. Urbain nextaddressed himself to the bishop's chaplain, and begged him to informthe prelate that his object in coming was to lay before him theofficial reports which the magistrates had drawn up of the eventswhich had taken place at the Ursuline convent, and to lodge acomplaint as to the slanders and accusations of which he was thevictim. Grandier spoke so urgently that the chaplain could notrefuse to carry his message; he returned, however, in a few moments,and told Grandier, in the presence of Dupuis, Buron, and a certainsieur Labrasse, that the bishop advised him to take his case to theroyal judges, and that he earnestly hoped he would obtain justicefrom them. Grandier perceived that the bishop had been warnedagainst him, and felt that he was becoming more and more entangled inthe net of conspiracy around him; but he was not a man to flinchbefore any danger. He therefore returned immediately to Loudun, andwent once more to the bailiff, to whom he related all that hadhappened at Dissay; he then, a second time, made a formal complaintas to the slanders circulated with regard to him, and begged themagistrates to have recourse to the king's courts in the business.He also said that he desired to be placed under the protection of theking and his justice, as the accusations made against him were aimedat his honour and his life. The bailiff hastened to make out acertificate of Urbain's protest, which forbade at the same time the